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New Jersey · Skylands · #716
Warren County, New Jersey
On the Delaware River at the Delaware Water Gap in northwest New Jersey, Warren County is the state's quieter rural corner - where the Appalachian Trail crosses the Kittatinny Ridge and the Delaware River defines the border with Pennsylvania in some of the most scenic river corridor terrain in the Mid-Atlantic.
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What do you need to do?
Tell us your goal and we'll guide you step-by-step to the right office, forms, and official resources.
Office: Warren County Department of Public Safety – Director Dennis M. Riley; confirm current phone via warrencountynjdps.com; maintains the 2021 All-Hazard Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan and a Central Dispatch alert notification system.
Sheriff: Warren County Sheriff’s Office – Warren County Courthouse, Belvidere, NJ 07823 | (908) 475-6309; anonymous tip hotline 1-877-ARREST-U (1-877-277-3788), staffed 24/7.
County main line: (877) 222-3737 (toll-free).
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-80 and NJ-31 serve Belvidere, the county seat, in New Jersey’s northwestern corner along the Delaware River and Pennsylvania border.
Notes: Belvidere, incorporated 1845, is named from the Italian for “beautiful to see.”
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Wayne Dumont, Jr. Administration Building – 165 County Route 519 South, Belvidere, NJ 07823-1949.
Notes: Warren County’s Historic Courthouse, built 1826 on land donated by Garret Dorset Wall, is a contributing property to the NRHP-listed Belvidere Historic District. IMPORTANT: Hackettstown, in Warren County, is genuinely the U.S. manufacturing headquarters of Mars Wrigley Confectionery – home since 1958, producing M&M’s, Skittles, Twix, and Starburst; Mars invested over $70 million in a new R&D Innovation Studio there in 2024, and the town now hosts an annual New Year’s Eve “M&M drop” tradition. Warren County is also genuinely home to two of only two state-run fish hatcheries in New Jersey – the Pequest Trout Hatchery (Oxford, producing up to 700,000 trout annually) and the Hackettstown/Charles O. Hayford Hatchery – both located here because of the area’s exceptional water quality and volume.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Warren County Veterans Service – confirm current contact via warrencountynj.gov.
Federal: Lyons VA Medical Center (nearby).
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Warren County Library – Richard D. Gardner Branch (Belvidere HQ), 2 Shotwell Drive, Belvidere, NJ 07823 | (908) 818-1280; additional branches: Catherine Dickson Hofman (Blairstown), Southwest Branch (Stewartsville/Phillipsburg), and Northeast Branch (Hackettstown); several independent municipal libraries also serve the county (Hackettstown Free Public Library, Phillipsburg Free Public Library, Washington Public Library, Oxford Public Library Association).
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Pequest Trout Hatchery and Natural Resource Education Center (nearly 5,000 acres, self-guided tours, live trout displays), Stephens State Park (800+ acres along the Musconetcong River), and the southern reach of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area are the county’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine Mars/M&M’s manufacturing headquarters and the state fish hatcheries are distinctive local facts.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Warren County Board of Taxation – confirm current contact via warrencountynj.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Belvidere Animal Control – Warren County Department of Public Safety; contact Robert Lagonera via warrencountynjdps.com.
Riverview Rescue (nonprofit) – Belvidere, NJ; animal advocacy and rescue.
Individual Warren County municipalities also maintain their own local animal control contacts.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Warren County – confirm current contact via warrencountynj.gov.
NOTES: Warren County is the seventh and final county in the New Jersey v2 A+ sourced redo – completing all 21 New Jersey counties. The genuine Mars/M&M’s manufacturing headquarters in Hackettstown and the state’s two fish hatcheries are distinctive local facts. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Warren County
Warren County occupies the Delaware River corridor between the Delaware Water Gap (shared with the Pennsylvania side) and the Musconetcong River to the south. The county’s landscape – the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area on its western edge, the Kittatinny Ridge of the Appalachian Trail, and the working farms of the central valley – makes it genuinely scenic in a way that most New Jersey counties are not. Belvidere, the county seat, is one of New Jersey’s smallest and most historically intact county seats, with a courthouse square character unusual in the densely developed Northeast.
The county’s more recent growth has come from commuters willing to drive 90 minutes to the New York or Philadelphia metros in exchange for significantly lower housing costs. Phillipsburg, the county’s largest city on the Delaware River across from Easton, Pennsylvania, has navigated post-industrial economic transition with moderate success. New Jersey’s inheritance tax is a planning consideration for Warren County residents.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
New Jersey assesses property at 100% of market value. Property owners may appeal to the County Board of Taxation. New Jersey has no estate tax; it has an inheritance tax on non-immediate-family heirs at rates up to 16%.
Courts & Legal
Courts & Legal
SENIOR SERVICES
Warren County Division of Senior Services
1500 Route 517, Suite 3, Hackettstown, NJ 07840
Phone: (908) 852-6050
Senior Services
Warren County Division of Senior Services
1500 Route 517, Suite 3, Hackettstown, NJ 07840
Phone: (908) 852-6050
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
413 Second St., Belvidere, NJ 07823
(908) 475-6211
COUNTY CLERK — ELECTIONS
413 Second St., Belvidere, NJ 07823
(908) 475-6218
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Warren County Surrogate’s Court, Belvidere (probate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Warren County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Warren County Surrogate’s Court Warren County Courthouse, 413 Second Street (also cited: 323 Front Street), Belvidere, NJ 07823 (908) 475-6223 Warren County is in northwestern New Jersey along the Delaware River, seated in Belvidere.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
New Jersey probate is governed by Title 3B of the New Jersey Statutes. The elected Surrogate’s Court in each county handles uncontested probate matters; contested matters are referred to the Superior Court, Chancery Division, Probate Part.
Affidavit of Surviving Spouse (N.J.S.A. 3B:10-3) – available only when the decedent died WITHOUT a will (intestate) and the total value of real and personal assets does not exceed $50,000. The surviving spouse, civil union partner, or domestic partner may file this affidavit with the Surrogate’s Court and receive the assets without formal administration. The first $10,000 of the estate is free from the decedent’s debts. There is no affidavit shortcut if a will exists – a will must always be probated regardless of estate size.
Affidavit of Next of Kin (N.J.S.A. 3B:10-4) – available only when the decedent died intestate, there is no surviving spouse/partner, and the estate does not exceed $20,000. One of the next of kin may file this affidavit with the written consent of all other heirs of equal or greater priority.
Regular (Formal) Probate – required whenever there’s a will, or when an intestate estate exceeds the small-estate thresholds above.
